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Clinton and Corporate Welfare

DETROIT – Bernie Sanders’ campaign on Saturday questioned Hillary Clinton’s support for “corporate welfare” doled out through the Export-Import Bank.

More than 75 percent of Export-Import Bank financing goes to large profitable corporations which have moved manufacturing plants and jobs overseas.

“The Export-Import Bank provides corporate welfare to some of the largest multi-national corporations that are moving jobs to China and stashing their profits in tax havens like the Cayman Islands,” said Warren Gunnels, Sanders’ policy director.

“Instead of providing low-interest loans to multi-national companies that are shipping jobs to China and other low-wage countries, we should be investing in small businesses and worker-owned enterprises that want to create jobs in the United States and lift Americans out of poverty and into the middle class,” Gunnels added.

Despite promises of broad job creation and economic growth, more than $116 billion in financial assistance from the Ex-Im bank went to just 41 companies during the last nine years. These same companies have eliminated more than 180,000 jobs since 1994.

Boeing and General Electric, the two largest recipients of corporate welfare from the Export-Import Bank, shipped more than 72,000 jobs overseas since 1994. Meanwhile, these same companies have received tax refunds of more than $3.3 billion over the past six years, even though they made a combined profit of over $60 billion.

Altogether, the 41 U.S. corporations that received federally-subsidized loans:

Eliminated more than 180,000 jobs between 1994 and 2014 due to overseas offshoring.

Established at least 468 subsidiaries in places like the Cayman Islands, Barbados and Bermuda, which have been identified by the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service as offshore tax havens.

Received at least $66.7 billion in corporate income tax breaks from 2008 to 2012.

Spent nearly $2.3 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions to influence Congress and the political process

Received 61.5 percent of total financial assistance from the Ex-Im Bank during the last nine years.